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Speak Out For Women And Girls Victimized By ISIS

Last week, the Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Rep Ed Royce (R-CA), convened a hearing on “ISIS Violence against Women and Girls.”In his opening statement Rep Royce reflected on the terrible plight of women who are living under ISIS rule. He described how female captives are raped, sold into slavery, forced into “marriage” and murdered:

Violence against women is in fact a sinister and calculated strategy that goes to the heart of ISIS’s survival. By forcing local women to marry into ISIS, the group expands its demographic base while reducing the population of those diverse communities it seeks to eradicate and replace. Simply put, ISIS needs women – needs to control them – to establish its “caliphate” and give rise to the next generation of ISIS.

Nina Shea, Director of the Center for Religious Freedom at The Hudson Institute, also recentlyreported on sex slavery under ISIS. She described how girls held in Mosul were “separated by eye color, and members of ISIS were allowed to choose for themselves among the young women, who were separated into “pretty” and “ugly” groups, with the most beautiful given away to high ranking ISIS members.”

One of our Open Doors contacts recently came upon one of these victimized women in Northern Iraq. The woman had been repeatedly victimized by her ISIS captors and then dropped off in a city outside of ISIS control. Her physical condition was alarming, and she was in a deeply confused mental state after enduring such extreme trauma. Our contact provided shelter for this woman and she was later taken to a hospital where she was cared for.

Open Doors provides Trauma Care Training for volunteers who care for women and men victimized by ISIS. It is estimated that 5,000 women, mostly Yazidis but also some Christians, are being held by ISIS. There are also children in captivity.

Continue to pray for healing for these trauma victims. And take a moment to speak out for these women and people of all minority faiths in the region by signing our Special Envoy Petition.